Like a Band-Aid

    Patience is a virtue and slower is usually more steady. But sometimes, the worst thing you can do is go slow. I learned that the hard way.
    I used to ride my bike everywhere. It was my mode of transportation. I always had a banana seat stingray bike, fashioned after Schwinn’s famed “Apple Crate,” though always a cheaper version.
    I also loved watching motocross on TV and the motorcycle stunts and jumps they used to show on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. My favorite was Evil Knievel. I dreamed of doing jumps like his.
    During spring break one year (I was 7 or 8), I spent the week at my Uncle Ralph’s farm. I brought my bike but found that there were not too many places to ride it. But I did see what appeared to be a perfect bike jump. It was a concrete retaining wall, about four feet high, that held up a slope on one side of the barn.
    I thought that would be the perfect spot for me to learn how to jump my bike. But I had never done anything like it, I’d only seen it done with motorcycles on TV. So for my first attempt, I figured I’d better take it slow. I didn’t want to get hurt!
    You can imagine what happened as I slowly approached that four foot drop-off and my front wheel went down. As soon as I started to go over I thought, “How stupid, you have to do this fast!” I felt so foolish in the middle of the fall that I started laughing while I was going over...I just felt so stupid.
    My uncle caught what I had done out of the corner of his eye, and seeing me laughing, he must’ve thought I was self-sadistic or something, and he ran over to see if I was ok, then yelled at me and took my bike away. He asked, “Did you do that on purpose?” Well, yes, but I didn’t intend for that result!
    That wasn’t my last bike jump, but it was the last one I did slowly. There are some things that are best done quickly, jumping a bike, removing a band-aid, getting used to cold water. Sometimes it's just better to go after it and do it fast.
    That’s how the Bible tells us to deal with sin. Lingering around temptation never works. Trying to slowly back off a habit leads to stronger addiction. Dealing with sin in our lives has to be like a band-aid. There’s a little pain initially, but removing the temptation quickly and replacing the activity immediately is the only way.
    If you are having sex with your girlfriend, you’ve got to stop altogether, cold turkey. You might even need to break off the relationship for a while (after all, you started on the wrong foot anyway). If you are living together and not married, you’ve got to move out. If you’ve been getting drunk, you’ve got to stop drinking altogether. Been getting high? Change your hang-outs and the people you are hanging with. Gossiping? Probably need to change your friends. It’s what we call in the Biblical counseling world, “radical amputation,” a concept we get from Jesus. That’s what he was talking about when he said, “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off...” (Matthew 18:8 ESV).
    Yes, sometimes it’s better to go slow. But sometimes it’s not. When it comes to habitual sin, there’s too much at stake. Make the change, and do it right away!

Time to Take a Load Off?

     A few years ago in New Zealand, a sheep wandered from his shepherd and hid out in a cave. He managed to live for six years without detection and amazingly, without becoming dinner for a predator. But all during that time, his wool continued to grow. When he was finally discovered after stumbling out of the cave he had been hiding out in, he could barely walk, his wool had become so overgrown.
    In just a half hour, he was rid of the mass of weight that had been burdening him down (60 lbs. of wool, enough to make twenty men’s suits).
    In the article I read, Dave Thomas, head of sheep studies for the University of Wisconsin said that a Merino sheep like Shrek will grow wool indefinitely.
    When God created sheep, he had people in mind. Sheep cannot survive for long without a shepherd. They were created to be cared for.
    And you are no different. Our lives involve the accumulation of multiple burdens, burdens that need the caring shears of a shepherd to offload us. As sheep were created with a shepherd in mind, we were created with the Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20) in mind. You and I were created for God, and we cannot live life to its fullest without him.
    I think of Shrek (the name of the sheep) as a wandering Christian. He wandered off to make his own way, and found himself in isolation, danger, and overburdened. It was not until he returned to his shepherd that he was freed, fed and safe.
    Is it time for you to return?
    “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 ESV).

You Are NOT Invited

    Social media has changed a lot of things. Many of us try to fight it, but it is here to stay. And for those under 40, it is the way communication happens. If there is a party, it’s promoted on social media. In a number of circles, even wedding invitations go out online.
    This last week I read about a trend influenced by social media, that has taken a surprising “traditional” turn. Evidently, because so many wedding invitations were going out on Facebook, etc., people were receiving them who were not supposed to be invited. One wedding party had twice the number of intended guests at their reception because some had mistakenly thought they were invited on Facebook.
    So a new trend has now emerged. Couples are actually sending out formal “You Are Not Invited” cards via traditional mail. I’m not kidding. Could you imagine getting a wedding announcement telling you NOT to come? They try to put it as nicely as possible. Here’s one example:

“We’ve had to be pretty brutal in chopping down our guest list. I’m so sad that you won’t be there with us on the day, but we look forward to catching up afterwards!”

    Nice or not, there would be a kind of “sting” of rejection accompanying such a card, no matter how decorative the stock that it is written on is.
    Well, there is a wedding coming up that you can know you will not receive such a notice. In fact, you have been invited, and so have your friends, co-workers and relatives. Jesus is planning a wedding reception in heaven for all those who will join him. It’s called, “The Marriage Feast of The Lamb.” And Jesus wants you there, along with anyone you can bring. Here’s what he said, “Go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see” (Matthew 22:9 NLT).
    Rejection is a reality we have to face in this life. But for the next...eternal life, you need not. Jesus invites you to come. He’s not rejecting you. Please, don’t reject him!

Do You Want to Be Disableld?

    I’ve had a set-back in my running schedule. Pretty big one, actually, as I am currently having to use crutches just to walk around. From running eight miles one day, I am now hobbling around on crutches the next. It was a bit humbling when I stopped in at Sam’s Club and the host tried to get me to take the electric scooter/shopping cart. I refused because I knew that my lovely wife beside me would have a picture of it on Facebook the minute I got on.
    But it’s given me a new appreciation for those with disabilities. I’m so accustomed to good health and mobility that losing it is unnerving. I want to get back running again, but we have some in our church who just want to walk again.
    That’s why it blew me away when I read an article this week of a woman who dreams of becoming a paraplegic. Yes, you could say it’s her life’s goal. Chloe Jennings-White is an able bodied woman who longs to lose the use of her legs. She says that she’s dreamed of becoming a paraplegic since visiting a disabled relative when she was four years old.
    And she’s tried hard to make it happen. She purposely took up extreme sports in hopes of a debilitating accident. She once rode her bike off a ledge, looking for just such an impairment. She was injured, but not badly enough. When she realized that she could have hit her head and died, or broken her neck and lost the use of both legs and arms, she decided to pursue a more controlled means to disability––she sought the help of a surgeon to sever the nerves to her legs. She found one willing to perform the surgery, but doesn't have the $20K necessary for the operation.
    I know...crazy. And that she is. They even have a name for her “psychiatric disorder” describing this bizarre desire. I’m sure all of my friends who would love to be able to walk, wouldn’t mind having a conversation with her.
    But as awful as this sounds, I know a lot of Christians who appear to have a similar inclination. While having been given the freedom of Jesus’ gift of salvation, and called to a life of walking in the Spirit, they continually choose to confine themselves to a spiritual or religious wheelchair, living in and for an iniquitous life in this dark and debilitating world. When we should be climbing mountaintops, many are content to inch themselves up and down wheelchair ramps.
    God has so much more for you! You have been healed! You’ve been raised up! Enjoy God to the fullest and leap for joy for the life he has provided you. Walk in the Spirit! – Galatians 5:16

You Can Trust the Bible

    I know it’s really old. I know it was written in another language–3 other languages, actually. I know it’s from a cultural milieu foreign to ours.
    But the Bible has proven itself time and again that it is reliable, trustworthy, relevant, and true.
    The latest example was in the news this last week. A year-old discovery on the temple mount in Jerusalem was inscribed with an early semitic inscription on it has now been deciphered.
    Because many secular archeologists refuse to believe the miraculous nature of the Old Testament record, they have long held to the theory that ancient Israel history had been fabricated in the time of Nehemiah, and that Israelites never controlled Palestine until long after the days of the Biblical stories of David and Solomon. They claimed that the Hebrew language did not exist until that time period, and that the earlier Hebrews had no way of writing their history in real time.
    But the 3,000 year old jug that was found in the heart of Jerusalem has now been been identified as Jewish, with the inscription being a very early form of Hebrew.
    Douglas Petrovich, ancient Near Eastern history and biblical studies expert, said about the deciphering of this discovery, "Hebrew speakers were controlling Jerusalem in the 10th century, which biblical chronology points to as the time of David and Solomon. Whoever they were, they were writing in Hebrew like they owned the place."
    This is an important find for doubting scholars, as it is direct evidence of the accuracy of the Old Testament record. Since Hebrew, as a written language, existed in the 10th century, the ancient Israelites were recording their history in real time as opposed to writing it down several hundred years later. That would make the Old Testament an historical account of real-life events.
    According to Petrovich, archaeologists have been unwilling, up until now, to identify it as Hebrew to avoid conflict. "It's just the climate among scholars that they want to attribute as little as possible to the ancient Israelites," he said.
    But this sort of thing has happened throughout modern history. Secularists make claims about the inaccuracy of the Bible, claims that they cannot really back up. Over time, evidence surfaces that substantiates the truth of Scripture.
    Not everything in the Bible can be validated. But what evidence is available points to a level of accuracy and trustworthiness completely unheard of in any other ancient document. At some point, God expects us to stand on what he has confirmed, and trust him for the rest. The Bible is a document we can believe, and if you will have faith in God for what it says, you will see in your own life how dependable it really is.
    So read it! There’s some really good stuff in there! Not only is it all true, when you apply it to your life, it really works!